The daily grind: 9-24-13

The Daily Grind provides daily match-up advice for tinkerers and daily fantasy players. I welcome advice to help make this column more effective, including notice of impending weather events, new injuries, and changes to platoon situations. Ownership rates are from Yahoo!

The daily picks are a mixture of Daily League specific advice and information for the more typical fantasy owner.

Today’s weather watch

Atlanta and St. Louis have a low risk of showers.

Today’s grind

Tomorrow’s grind

Pitcher (to start): Danny Salazar will face the White Sox for the second time in three starts. Keep in mind that he’s pitch-constrained. Last time against the Sox, he struck out nine of 17 batters faced yet didn’t get out of the fourth inning.

Randall Delgado is a stretch option at Petco Park tomorrow. Since his midseason call up, he’s turned stingy with walks, issuing fewer than two free passes per nine innings (1.86 BB/9). During his six seasons in minor league ball, he averaged more than twice that rate. If he can maintain a pace like this, he should be a solid major league pitcher. Think of him as the kind of pitcher who could appear as a start or an exploit depending on the opponent and location.

Ricky Nolasco is heavily owned at 63 percent, but use him if he’s available against the Giants’ light offense. As with any clinched team, keep in mind that he won’t be pushed deep into the ballgame unless his pitch count is low.

Pitcher (bum): Daisuke Matsuzaka versus Greg Reynolds has the makings of a slugfest. Matsuzaka has actually pitched well in three consecutive outings, but don’t think about starting him.

It’s been mentioned recently that the Indians hit well against left-handed pitchers, right? They’ll likely finish the season as the best against lefties per wRC+ at 15 percent above league average. Tomorrow they face John Danks.

Roy Oswalt at Coors Field has an ugly sound to it. Roy Oswalt at Coors Field against the Red Sox sounds like an explosive run-fest.

Hitter (power): Ryan Raburn and Drew Stubbs have been frequent guests of The Grind recently, despite tepid results. Both hitters have long track records against left-handed pitching.

Noteworthy news

There are several little items worth mentioning. Manny Machado appears to be out for the season with a knee injury. Roy Halladay had to exit in the first inning with “arm fatigue.” Alex Rios hit for the cycle yesterday.

About Brad Johnson

Brad is a former collegiate player who writes for FanGraphs, MLB Trade Rumors, The Hardball Times, RotoWorld, and The Fake Baseball. He's also the lead MLB editor for RotoBaller. Follow him on Twitter @BaseballATeam or email him here.

Comments

Just FYI, I think Francona said they’d let Salazar go up to 100 pitches in this last outing. I’m sure if he gets into trouble he’ll have a quick hook, but if he’s cruising it sounds like they’ll let him stay in through about the 6th.